Tri for Real - TriathlonSprint

For this one, I seeded myself in the front but but ended up farther to the right of where I'd ideally be. Had a strong start to break away from the pack and then mid way to the first buoy a group of the really fast swimmers broke away leaving a smaller cluster of us behind with a bigger pack behind us. This is the first race I was able to focus enough to find feet to draft off and I settled in behind someone for about 2/3 of the swim. After we came around the 2nd buoy things got more congested - maybe we hit some stragglers from the early waves? Pushed on toward shore. Saw Mom as I ran up the bank.

Nothing. Great swim.

Struggled to get the wetsuit off over my Garmin. Ran my bike to the bike exit from T1 and had a volunteer tell me "Slow down! We don't want anyone to get hurt!" I wasn't on the bike, I was running it and trust me I don't run that fast in bike shoes. I kept trotting along but I thought it was funny that in a race I was told to slow down.

There's always something to fix about T1.

Left my bike water bottle on the bumper of the car as I left the house in the morning so it was waiting in the driveway for me when I got back. I had taken a water bottle (screw top) provided by the race and just put it in transition. I didn't think the bike would take me more than an hour; it was still early and cool so I figured I could survive without water for that long.

Nothing. For these short rides, I may continue to bike without water. I don't feel like I needed it on the bike for this distance under these conditions.

Smooth transition out of bike shoes and into running shoes. Drank some water and took off for the run. Waved at Mom as I came out of T2 and was glad to see she looked like she was having fun too.

Grab a Gu for the run.

For some reason I thought they stocked Gu at the aid stations on the run so I didn't take one with me. I didn't feel like I particularly needed one, but I am use to ingesting one at about this time. In any case, I did make sure to drink some water every time I passed the aid staion. The trail was well marked but there was almost always someone running back towards you with the way the trails looped around.

Just now easing back into running from a hamstring injury and physical therapy. Today my leg is telling me I might have pushed a little too hard. I was trying to focus on my form. My left knee tends to fall inward and this is what causes the hamstring aggravation. Really worked on engaging the buttocks so that the inward knee thing doesn't happen. That pretty much occupied my thoughts for the entire run.

oranges, oranges, orange sports drink
Stretched
Sat with Mom and watched the other athletes come in; reminisced about the childhood athletic endeavors of me and my brothers


The running still needs work and this wasn't a race where I went all out and pushed it. Overall, felt like I had great performance for the effort I made.


High marks for an organized, fun event.